Questor Insurance News

Spain is top holiday destination for Brits

Spain was the most popular destination visited by Brits in 2014 as the total umber reached 238 million, according to figures from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The amount of British passengers using UK airports to reach the Spanish holiday destination has increased by 4.4% – or 10 million – since 2013.

Passenger demand increasing

The overall number of passengers travelling to Spain reached a staggering 238 million during 2014 as the number of passengers using UK airports continues to recover from the decline experienced in 2011.

Last year’s total currently sits just below 2007’s high of 241 million passengers with Iain Osborne, CAA’s Director of Regulatory Policy, explaining that these latest figures demonstrate that while passenger demand is increasing, the number of flights is also growing at London airports.

Osborne added that this highlights the “pressures on airspace in the southeast and the need for more runway capacity in London”.

With travel demand expected to continue to grow during 2015, he said these problems should be tackled immediately to ensure travellers can enjoy “the full benefits of the UK’s strong aviation industry”.

Travelling worldwide

As well as heading for the Spanish mainland, the CAA also found the Canary and Balearic Islands accounted for over 34 million passengers last year – helping Spain to scoop the top position for most popular destinations.

In second place was the USA with 17 million passengers while Germany, Italy and France made up the rest of the top five with traveller numbers of 12 million, 11.9 million and 10.6 million respectively.

Destinations outside of the top five but within the top ten are:

Ireland (10.4 million)

UAE (6.2 million)

Portugal (6.1 million)

Switzerland (6 million)

Turkey (5.7 million)

On the other side of the scale, Australia witnessed the largest decline in travellers; down from 744,000 to 48,000.

The report also showed travel trends in terms of airlines used with 57% of the UK’s holidaymakers choosing British airlines, 28% flying with EU airlines and 15% opting for non-EU airlines.

If you’re thinking of travelling abroad to popular destination such as Spain this year, it is important that you have European travel insurance in advance